Democratic congressional candidate Andy Kim has raised over $600,000 as he prepares to challenge New Jersey Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-3) ahead of the midterm election in 2018.
According to Kim’s campaign, $345,000 of his total haul came in at the end of 2017, signaling momentum since his July entrance into the race. Kim is a former National Security Council staffer who advised President Barack Obama on Iraq. If he wins the June Democratic primary, Kim will face MacArthur in November.
“I’m honored and humbled by the outpouring of grassroots support as we work tirelessly to build the strongest campaign this district has ever seen” said Kim in a statement.
MacArthur’s national profile skyrocketed this year when the incumbent wrote an amendment to the now-failed GOP plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. He was also the only New Jersey member of Congress to vote for the recent GOP tax overhaul that would scale back the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, an unpopular provision in New Jersey that MacArthur has said is being disproportionately vilified by Democrats and other opponents of the measure.
But Kim still faces a significant fundraising disadvantage over MacArthur.
According to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, MacArthur’s campaign has raised over $1.2 million, a total that does not yet factor in the final quarter of 2017. In June, Trump hosted a fundraiser for MacArthur that brought in over $800,000 for his re-election campaign.
MacArthur’s district is considered a safely conservative district ahead of the 2018 midterm election, according to the Cook Political Report, which rates it as “likely Republican”. Democrat Rich Dennison has also announced that he will be running in the 2018 primary but has yet to report any fundraising to the FEC.
“I feel badly for all 6,000 donors, because Andy Kim just duped them out of their money to fund a campaign he can’t win,” said MacArthur spokesman Chris Russell. “I hope he’s offering refunds.”
